Cycling governors I‘still in dark ages’

Press, 8 October 1987, Page 39

Cycling governors I‘still in dark ages’

/*.. PA Hamilton New Zealand’s cycling administrators are "still in the > dark ages” and need to ■ change their attitudes if .. cycling is to grow in New Zealand, says the Hamilton < professional cyclist, Stephen Swart. Swart, aged 22, returned to . New Zealand on Saturday after riding his first professional 'season in Europe, ini’r eluding the prestigious Tour de France. After six months away, . >'. Swart said he saw no changes •: in the New Zealand cycling scene. "When you come back, it looks like it is dying here," Swart said. ..1' "It has definitely got to

change. The riders want it but the governing body is so ignorant” Swart and his well-known cycling brother. Jack, said that the future of the sport was doubtful if big changes were not made. Young people needed to be encouraged into cycling, Jack Swart said. “In this country, they have got to put professionals and amateurs together because what we need here is numbers,” Jack Swart said. "There is a big need to restructure the cycling season and to change the selection system so we are selecting riders closer to events rather than a year in advance.” Steve Swart affirmed his

support for summer road racing and dismissed suggestions that New Zealand’s emphasis on winter cycling better prepared its cyclists for overseas events. "We have not got sufficient racing here anyway so where is the preparation coming in?” he said. “They (the administrators) don’t realise that the average European rider has had, before the worlds (championships), 50 to 60 days of good hard racing behind him.” The future hopes and hardriding experience for New Zealand cyclists were overseas, Swart said. “If they want to make it, they have got to go.”